Men's Soccer

Spartans Edge Medaille while Hanna Puts Damper on Match

Sep 06, 2008

YORK, PA – On a rainy, windy, and simply
dreary afternoon, the York College men’s soccer team scraped
by visiting Medaille with a 1-0 victory. The Spartans move to 3-0
on the young season while Medaille continues to fall on hard luck
and drops to 0-4.

The lone goal of the match came off the foot of junior
Mike O’Connell (Bowie, Md./Archbishop
Spalding) in the game’s 63rd minute. Newcomer
Kemal Nuspahic (East Petersburg, Pa./Warwick)
flipped a short, arcing ball over a Maverick defender to an
on-running O’Connell. The junior then deftly chipped his shot
over the Medaille goalkeeper, who made a great full-layout attempt
at the save, but was simply unable to keep O’Connell and the
Spartans off the scoreboard. O’Connell’s second of the
season put the Spartans up 1-0 and would prove to be the
game-winner.

The Spartans would have a great chance to stretch the lead to
two in the 85th minute. O’Connell looked to increase his
season goal total to three, when he snapped a header to the far
left post. At point blank range, Maverick goalkeeper Ryan Goettel
made an incredible reaction save as he dove to his right to keep
the score line at 1-0.

York was able to effectively run the clock for the rest of the
match and secured the 1-0 victory.

Medaille’s best chance of the afternoon came midway
through the first frame. Josh Meier struck a quality free kick into
the Spartan penalty area where David Pihlblad skimmed it off his
head and towards the Spartan goal. The ball looked destined for the
back of the net until junior defender Scott Becker
(Hockessin, Del./Salesianum) got his head to the ball to
force it over the crossbar.

In total, the Spartans led in shots 13-7 while corner kicks were
even at four apiece. A physical contest, 44 fouls were called
between the two sides and three yellow cards were issued.

Kyle Marks (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) picks up
his third win of the season as he registered three saves for the
90-minute clean sheet. Goettel was solid for the Mavericks,
recording five stops.

The Spartans return to action on Wednesday, September 10, when
they host Johns Hopkins at Graham Field in a 4:00 pm contest.